You are what you eat
New edition of McCance and Widdowson Essential Food Composition Data
Whether you tune in to the Great British Bake-Off or Masterchef, whether you know someone who follows the 5:2, Slimming World or Paleo diets, we’re obsessed with what we eat, so what could be more important than accurate information on the chemical composition of foods?
We have a colossal appetite for new foods and innovative cuisine, farming techniques are constantly evolving and the reformulation of products is crucial to bring processed foods into line with government public health initiatives, by reducing the amount of fat, sugar and salt in our diet.
We recently published the seventh summary edition of McCance and Widdowson’s The Composition of Foods, which extends and updates a series that began as far back as the 1930s.
Robert McCance and Elsie Widdowson produced the first edition of The Compositon of Foods in response to worries about the standard of food data available at the time. It quickly became a vital resource, especially during rationing in the Second World War.
McCance and Widdowson continued to work together for the Medical Research Council in Cambridge for over 60 years and the latest edition - the seventh - contains nutritional information on almost 1200 foods, providing the most recent and accurate data on what is currently eaten in the UK diet.
Paul Finglas, head of the Food Databanks National Capability (the FDNC arepart of the Institute of Food Research and coordinated data compilation for the new edition) says: “This is a major update and release of one of the most used and cited reference works, which dates back to the 1st edition published in 1940. The book is used widely by researchers, dietitians and students in both the UK and internationally”.
The data underpins research that informs dietary policy, such as the National Diet and Nutrition Survey that monitors UK intake of calories, salt, saturated fat and other nutrients. Dieticians rely on it for meal planning and assessing patients’ nutrient intakes. It is also widely used by the food industry in developing or reformulating products, especially in response to regulatory changes or voluntary efforts designed to make our foods healthier.
Fascinatingly, eggs were reassessed and found to contain more vitamin D and selenium but less saturated fat than 25 years ago – probably due to changes in chicken feed and production techniques. Bread now contains about a third less salt and the levels of trans fats in processed foods have also reduced to a very low level.
Our Books team worked with a significant number of partners to get the seventh edition into print. With funding from Public Health England, the FDNC produced the content, in collaboration with the British Nutrition Foundation and analytical laboratory companies Eurofins and LGC.
Professor Judith Buttriss, director general of the British Nutrition Foundation adds: “McCance and Widdowson’s The Composition of Foods has been a key resource in nutrition science for many decades.
“These data on the composition of the food we eat are vital to determine our nutrient intakes as a nation, for research into the links between diet and health, for dietitians to assess and manage their patients and for the food industry in product development and food labelling.
“It’s so important that food composition data is accurate and up to date and this new edition and the updated online dataset is a great step forward.”
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McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, Seventh Summary Edition
